Aransas County court Judge Adams returns to work as daughter continues speaking out

MARK COLLETTE/CALLER-TIMES
Hillary Adams appeared on the Jane Velez-Mitchell show on Friday to talk about her father, Judge William Adams, being reinstated.

ARANSAS COUNTY - Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams has been in and out of the courthouse in Rockport preparing for next week's docket, while his daughter made another national television appearance Friday.

Adams was reinstated by the Texas Supreme Court after a yearlong paid suspension resulting from a judicial conduct inquiry.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct investigated after his daughter posted a video on YouTube that she secretly recorded seven years earlier, showing the judge whipping her with a belt and dishing out a verbally abusive, threatening and obscenity-laced tirade when she was 16.

The video also showed Adams' then-wife, Hallie Adams, striking their daughter, Hillary. The women have since reconciled and continue to paint Judge Adams as an abuser unfit for the bench.

The judge, who remarried this summer, has downplayed the video as a ploy by a conniving ex-wife embroiled in a custody battle over their youngest daughter, and a vengeful Hillary, 24, cut off from his finances. He said they capitalized on him losing his temper after his daughter illegally downloaded music.

TV APPEARANCE

On her appearance on the Jane Velez-Mitchell show on HLN Friday, Hillary Adams said she was "unimaginably upset and hurt" that her father had been reinstated.

"It's not only about me, my mother and my sister," she said. "This is about every person in the world who has been treated as subhuman by an abuser."

Adams continues to maintain a low profile and hasn't commented publicly since around the time the video was released.

In September, the commission publicly warned Adams, finding the video cast doubt on his ability to be impartial. It also warned the judge against a pattern of demeaning behavior toward attorneys in his court. The commission chose not to take the rare step of recommending the Supreme Court remove him from the bench.

During the inquiry, commissioners heard from lawyers who appeared regularly in the court at law. Though half of them thought the video damaged his ability to be effective in family law and child abuse cases, they all said he had been a knowledgeable and fair judge who ruled based on law.

Police and prosecutors reviewed the Adams video but did not pursue criminal charges, citing statutes of limitation.

Courthouse officials said Adams likely will preside over the next regular court-at-law docket on Wednesday.

SECURITY WELCOMED

The sheriff's office has beefed up security because the video's initial release triggered an outpouring of public reaction, including threats to the judge and courthouse employees. Sheriff Bill Mills couldn't be reached for comment.

District clerk Pam Heard said she welcomes the new measures, which include limited access points and metal detectors. She doesn't expect any problems Wednesday, but said the security is needed anyway at the courthouse, given the emotional nature of family law cases, which include divorces and custody disputes.

"Everything is different now in this day and age and you always have to worry about it," Heard said.

Concerns that Judge Adams' troubles would trigger a wave of appeals and recusal motions from attorneys in family law cases haven't born out so far, Heard said.

"Judge Adams' rulings are probably some of the least appealed in our area," she said.

When he returns, he no longer will hear cases brought by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that involve violence with children, per the agency's request.

Under state law, county officials have no control over the employment and little control over the salary of an elected judge. Adams' term runs through 2014. He has received about a year's salary and allowances while on suspension, roughly $150,000. The decision to pay him during his suspension was the result of an agreed motion between the Commission on Judicial Conduct and Judge Adams.